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“Donald Trump was the target of what the FBI said ‘appears to be an attempted assassination’ at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday… U.S. Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away…
“An agent fired and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. The man was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.” AP News
Both sides worry about the ongoing risk of political violence and urge the Secret Service to provide additional security for Trump:
“The exemplary way in which federal and local law enforcement worked together to prevent what could have been a catastrophic event, followed by the consummate apprehension of the suspect, will take a lot of heat out of the situation as the inevitable blame game gets under way… [But] How, after Trump came so close to being shot in Pennsylvania, was it possible for him to be out playing golf in a setting that appears to have been impossible to secure?…
“What is happening in a country with as painful a history of successful assassinations as America’s when it sees a former president targeted not once but twice in such short order? A beady-eyed Secret Service agent spared the US a potentially unconscionable disaster. Is that security enough? ‘The threat level is high,’ said the Secret Service spokesperson. ‘We live in dangerous times.’”
Ed Pilkington, The Guardian
“How many assassination attempts will it take for the Secret Service to provide adequate security for Donald Trump? On Sunday, an agent happened to spot a rifle barrel sticking out a fence on the Trump International Golf Club course — and fired on the perp, scaring him off. Yet the would-be shooter got as close as 300 yards — almost as near as the Pennsylvania assassin, who would have succeeded if Trump hadn’t happened to turn his head at just the right moment…
“And that was after Trump’s security supposedly got upgraded in the wake of information that Iran is actively gunning for him… If President Biden were golfing, the whole course would’ve been ‘surrounded’ with protection, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. Yet Trump’s ‘not the sitting president,’ so ‘security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.’”
Editorial Board, New York Post
“The Secret Service has raised the level of protection for Mr. Trump since the Butler debacle. But the debate was already raging on Sunday about whether the former President deserves the greater protection received by a current President. The simple answer is yes, and the same goes for Kamala Harris. The risk level is too high these days to take chances…
“Especially after Butler and now West Palm Beach, the Secret Service cannot be seen as failing to protect the candidates. Any harm that comes to either nominee, but especially to Mr. Trump after two failed attempts, would lead to conspiracy theories that could lead to further violence. The country, and President Biden, can’t afford to tempt fate again.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“Colin Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consulting firm, said his organization just held a large summit on political violence that was full of U.S. government officials and leading academics — attendees of which would not be surprised by Sunday’s incident…
“Clarke said one of the major takeaways from the conference was that the U.S. was likely to see ‘a lot more political violence’ moving forward given ‘the general polarization in this country, where everyone is heavily armed and pissed off.’… [UChicago political scientist Robert] Pape surveyed more than 2,000 Americans in late June, before the first attempt on Trump’s life on July 13. The survey found a disturbing willingness, across the political spectrum, to say that violence was warranted to eliminate political foes.”
James Rainey and Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times
Other opinions below.
“[The gunman] had a GoPro camera to capture his actions and, if successful, air them to the world. This appears to have been a real assassination attempt and yet also a performative one… This would-be assassin was writing his own script, setting the stage and—but for a quick response by a Secret Service agent—directing the finale…
“There may well be performative aspects to the response. Trump has repeatedly boasted on social media about his heroics following the first assassination attempt, when he yelled ‘Fight’ and raised his fist in defiance, creating a memorable image. And our knowledge of the details of what happened today will likely be very much dependent on the Trump camp’s narrative… His campaign has already issued a statement. As if on cue, it came with a fundraising appeal.”
Juliette Kayyem, The Atlantic
“It’s a frightening development that highlights the recklessness of the hateful rhetoric constantly aimed at Trump by his political opponents, even after he was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania in July. Last week Kamala Harris falsely accused Trump of calling Nazis ‘fine people’, promising a ‘bloodbath,’ and being responsible for ‘the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.’…
“Joe Biden has labeled Trump and ‘MAGA Republicans’ as ‘semi-fascists’ and domestic terrorists. Tim Walz called Trump a ‘fascist’ and ‘threat to Democracy’ who will ‘put people’s lives in danger.’ On Saturday Democratic Senator Chris Murphy described Trump as ‘a candidate explicitly running on the promise of political violence.’… What will it take for these demented partisans to lower the temperature?”
Miranda Devine, New York Post
